Systems and methods for modifying playback of a media asset in response to a verbal command unrelated to playback of the media asset

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are described for translating a non-playback command into a playback modification to encourage a recipient of the command to execute on the command. A media guidance application may determine a command from a first user to a second user. The media guidance application may compare the command to a set of playback operation commands for a media asset that is currently being played back. The media guidance application may determine that the command is not contained within the set of playback operation commands. In response to determining that the command is not contained within the set of commands, the media guidance application may determine whether the second user executes a desired outcome of the command. And in response to determining that the second user does not execute the desired outcome of the command, the media guidance application may determine whether to modify playback of the media asset.

BACKGROUND

Modifying playback of a media asset in response to a verbal command or adetected sound is a technique used to help encourage a recipient of thecommand to perform an action based on the command. The related artdescribes various ways of modifying playback based on a verbal commandrelated to playback. For example, the related art describes systems thatdetect verbal commands related to playback (e.g., the user saying“Alexa, please pause the movie”), and then modifies playback based onthe detected command. Typical media applications look for commands thatrelate to guidance operations, but fail to consider how to operate whennon-guidance commands are received. The related art also can pick upambient sounds and perform a playback operation in response to thedetected sound. However, the related art does not describe differentmodes of operation based on whether the user is or is not authorized toperform an action that meets a goal of the sound.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are provided herein for translating a commandunrelated to playback into a pertinent playback modification toencourage a recipient of the command to execute on the command. Forexample, if a first user is watching a movie, and a second user callsout to the first user “Dinner's ready!”, playback of the movie may bepaused to encourage the first user to stop watching the movie and go eatdinner.

To this end and others, in some aspects of the disclosure, a mediaguidance application may detect a command from a first user to a seconduser. The first user may be a user not currently watching playback of amedia asset, and may be in an environment outside of the viewingenvironment of the media asset. The second user may be a user currentlyviewing playback of a media asset within the viewing environment of themedia asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect averbal command (e.g., “Come to the table for dinner!”) from the firstuser to the second user using an intelligent personal assistant device(e.g., an Amazon Echo).

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects thecommand from the first user to the second user, the media guidanceapplication may detect verbal input from the first user. For example,the media guidance application may detect, using an audio detectionsensor, a verbal input (e.g., the user saying “Dinner's ready!”) fromthe first user.

The media guidance application may compare the verbal input to adatabase of commands, where the database contains commands correspondingto each verbal input. For example, the media guidance application maycompare the verbal input (e.g., the user saying “Dinner's ready!”) to adatabase containing commands (e.g., eat dinner, answer the door, clean,vacuum, etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, acommand corresponding to the verbal input from the first user. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine, from the userprofile, that the verbal input (e.g., “Dinner's ready!”) corresponds tothe command (e.g., eat dinner) using pattern recognition between theinput and the command.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines fromthe comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from thefirst user, the media guidance application may determine a match betweenthe verbal input and the database of commands. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the verbal input (e.g.,“Dinner's ready!”) corresponds to the command (e.g., eat dinner) becausethe verbal input matches keywords contained in the command (e.g.,“dinner”). The media guidance application may determine that the commandcorresponding to the match (e.g., eat dinner) is the commandcorresponding to the verbal input from the first user.

The media guidance application may compare the command to a set ofplayback operation commands for a media asset that is currently beingplayed back by the second user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may compare the command (e.g., eat dinner) to a set ofplayback operation commands (e.g., pause, fast-forward, mute, etc.) fora media asset (e.g., a movie) that is currently being played back by thesecond user.

In response to the comparison, the media guidance application maydetermine that the command is not contained within the set of playbackoperation commands. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the command (e.g., eat dinner) is not contained withinthe set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause, fastforward, mute,etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, based on a user profile ofthe first user and a user profile of the second user, a desired outcomeof the command from a plurality of outcomes of the command. For example,the media guidance application may determine a desired outcome of thecommand (e.g., the second user stops watching the movie and eats dinner)based on a user profile of the first user (e.g., the profile may statethat the first user is a mom) and a user profile of the second user(e.g., the second profile may state that the second user is the mom'sson who obeys the mom's commands).

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determining,based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of thesecond user, the desired outcome of the command from the plurality ofoutcomes of the command, the media guidance application may determineattributes of the command. For example, the media guidance applicationmay determine attributes of the command (e.g., the speaker of thecommand, the tone of the command, seriousness of the command, etc.)based on comparing the command to entries of a database of attributes.

The media guidance application may compare the attributes of the commandto attributes of the plurality of outcomes of the command. For example,the media guidance application may compare the attributes of the command(e.g., the speaker of the command, the tone of the command, seriousnessof the command, purpose of the command, etc.) to attributes of theplurality of outcomes of the command (e.g., a result if the command isfollowed, a result if the command is ignored, a consequence of followingthe command, a consequence of not following the command, etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, anoutcome in the plurality of outcomes that contains attributes of thecommand to be the desired outcome. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine, from the comparison, an outcome (e.g., theuser pauses the movie to go eat dinner) that contains attributes of thecommand (e.g., an intended consequence of the command) to be the desiredoutcome.

The media guidance application may detect an action executed by thesecond user. For example, the media guidance application may detect viaa camera that the user has left the viewing environment where playbackof the movie is occurring and has entered the dining room.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting anaction executed by the second user, the media guidance application maydetect, using a sensor, the second user leaving a viewing environment ofa media equipment device that is presenting the media asset. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect via a motiondetection sensor that the second user is leaving the viewing environmentof the television the user is watching a movie on.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting anaction executed by the second user, the media guidance application maydetect the second user executing a command to modify playback of themedia asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect theuser pressing an input command on a remote control device, for example,“pause,” to pause playback of the film the user is watching.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting anaction executed by the second user, the media guidance application maydetect, using a sensor, that the second user stays in the viewingenvironment of a media asset device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may detect, using a heat-mapping sensor, that the seconduser has not left the couch where the user is watching playback of themovie.

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second userto the desired outcome of the command. For example, the media guidanceapplication may compare the action (e.g., the second user continuing towatch the movie) to the desired outcome of the command (e.g., the seconduser going to eat dinner).

In some embodiments, when comparing a characteristic from the retrievedcharacteristics of the second user to the command, the media guidanceapplication may select the characteristic from a group ofcharacteristics consisting of age, rank within the household,relationship to other users, and time of day, and the media guidanceapplication may select the command from a group of commands consistingof eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping.

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison,whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine, from thecomparison, whether the command (e.g., eating) shares a characteristicof the second user (e.g., time of day).

In response to determining that the command shares the characteristic,the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset.For example, in response to determining that the command shares thecharacteristic, the media guidance application may pause playback of themedia asset.

In response to determining that the action of the second user does notcorrespond to the desired outcome of the command, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve characteristics of the second user from theuser profile of the second user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve characteristics (e.g., age, relationship to thefirst user, user rank within household, etc.) from the user profile ofthe second user.

The media guidance application may determine whether to modify playbackof the media asset based on the command detected from the first user andthe retrieved characteristics of the second user. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine whether to modify playback (e.g.,pause, mute, rewind, fast-forward, turn off, etc.) based on the commanddetected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the characteristicsof the second user (e.g., the second user must always obey commands fromthe first user).

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determiningwhether to modify playback of the media asset based on the commanddetected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of thesecond user, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank of thefirst user and a rank of the second user. For example, the mediaguidance application may retrieve a rank of the first user (e.g., thefirst user is ranked first out of five users) and a rank of the seconduser (e.g., the second user is ranked forth out of five users).

The media guidance application may determine, from the rank, whether thefirst user is ranked higher than the second user. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the first user (e.g., rankedfirst) is ranked higher than the second user (e.g., ranked second).

In response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than thesecond user, the media guidance application may modify playback of themedia asset. For example, in response to determining that the first useris ranked higher than the second user the media guidance application maymodify playback of the media asset (e.g., pause the movie currentlyplaying back).

In response to determining that the second user is ranked higher thanthe first user, the media guidance application may continue to play backthe media asset. For example, in response to determining that the seconduser is ranked higher than the first user, the media guidanceapplication may continue playback of the media asset (e.g., the moviethe second user is watching).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a commandfrom the first user to the second user and a third user. For example,the media guidance application may detect a command (e.g, eat dinner)from the first user to the second user and a third user.

The media guidance application may determine, based on a user profile ofthe first user, the user profile of the second user and a user profileof the third user, a desired outcome of the command from a plurality ofoutcomes of the command.

The media guidance application may detect a first action executed by thesecond user and a second action executed by the third user. For example,the media guidance application may detect a first action by the seconduser (e.g., the second user turns up the volume of the movie) and asecond action executed by the third user (e.g., a motion sensordetecting that the third user leaves the viewing environment to go eatdinner).

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second userand the action of the third user to the desired outcome of the command.For example, the media guidance application may compare the action ofthe second user (e.g., turning up the volume of the movie via a remote)and the action of the third user (e.g., a motion sensor detecting thethird user leaving the viewing environment) to the desired outcome ofthe command (e.g., the second and third users going to eat dinner).

In response to determining that the action of the second user and theaction of the third user do not correspond to the desired outcome of thecommand, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics ofthe second user from the user profile of the second user andcharacteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user.

The media guidance application may determine whether to modify playbackof the media asset based on the command detected from the first user andthe retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrievedcharacteristics of the third user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine to modify playback of the media asset based onthe command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and theretrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., rank, etc.) and theretrieved characteristics of the third user (e.g., rank, etc.) becausethe first user outranks the ranks of the second and third user. Asanother example, the media guidance application may determine not tomodify playback of the media asset based on the command detected fromthe first user (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics ofthe first user (e.g., rank, etc.) and the retrieved characteristics ofthe second and third user (e.g., rank, etc.) because ranks of the thirduser outrank the rank of the command and first user.

In some aspects of the disclosure, systems and methods are providedherein for determining whether a user is authorized to perform an actionthat meets a goal of a sound. For example, in response to detecting thedoorbell ringing, the user may or may not be allowed to pause playbackof a movie that the user is watching. If the user is a child and homealone, the user may not be allowed to pause playback of the movie, toencourage the user not to answer the door when home alone. If the useris a child and his/her parents are home, the user may be allowed topause playback of the movie to answer the door.

To this end and others, in some aspects of the disclosure, a mediaguidance application may detect a sound generated by a first deviceexternal to a media equipment device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may detect, using a sensor, a sound (e.g., a doorbellringing) by a first device (e.g., a doorbell) external to a mediaequipment device (e.g., a television).

The media guidance application may store a database that associates agoal in a plurality of goals with a set of actions in a plurality ofactions and a sound in a plurality of sounds. For example, the mediaguidance application may store a database that associates a goal (e.g.,answer the door) in a plurality of goals (e.g., answer the door, answerthe phone, leave the house, etc.) with a set of actions (e.g., continuewatching playback of a media asset and ignore the doorbell) in aplurality of actions (e.g., pause playback of a media asset to answerthe door, continue watching playback of a media asset and ignore thedoorbell, etc.) and a sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing) in a plurality ofsounds (e.g., doorbell ringing, phone ringing, smoke detector beeping,etc.).

The media guidance application may compare the sound generated by thefirst device with the database to determine a goal associated with thesound and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. Forexample, the media guidance application may compare the sound generatedby the first device (e.g., a doorbell ringing) with the database todetermine a goal associated with the sound (e.g., answer the door) and acorresponding set of actions associated with the goal (e.g., pauseplayback of the media asset, leave the viewing environment to answer thedoor, etc.).

In some embodiments, when comparing the sound generated by the firstdevice with the database to determine a goal associated with the soundand a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal, the mediaguidance application may determine a match between the sound and anentry in the database based on characteristics of the sound. Forexample, the media guidance application may use characteristics of thesound (e.g., tone, loudness, frequency, etc.) to match the sound withits corresponding entry in the database.

The media guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, the goalassociated with the sound. For example, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve, from the entry, the goal (e.g., answer the door)associated with the sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing).

The media guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, thecorresponding set of actions associated with the goal. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, thecorresponding set of actions (e.g., pause playback of the media asset,mute the volume of playback of the media asset, etc.) associated withthe goal (e.g., answer the door).

The media guidance application may detect a user in a viewingenvironment of the media equipment device. For example, the mediaguidance application may use a sensor (e.g., a camera) to detect theuser in the viewing environment of the media equipment device (e.g.,television).

In some embodiments, when detecting the user in the viewing environmentof the media device, the media guidance application may detect, using asensor, a presence of the user in the viewing environment. For example,the media guidance application may use an infrared sensor to detect theuser in the viewing environment of the media equipment device (e.g.,television).

The media guidance application may determine, from a user profile of theuser, whether the user is authorized to perform an action in thedetermined set of actions associated with the goal. For example, themedia guidance application may determine, from an authorization databasein the user's profile, whether the user is authorized to leave theviewing environment associated with the goal (e.g., answer the door).

In some embodiments, when determining, from a user profile of the user,whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determinedset of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve, from the user profile, a rank for the user. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for the user (e.g., 8out of 10).

The media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, a rank foran action. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve,from a database, a rank (e.g., 5 out of 10) for an action (e.g., leavethe viewing environment).

The media guidance application may determine whether the rank for theuser exceeds the rank for the action. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the rank for the user (e.g., 8 out of 10)exceeds the rank for the action (e.g., 5 out of 10).

In response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds the rankfor the action, the media guidance application may determine that theuser is authorized to perform the action. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user is authorized to leavethe viewing environment.

In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform theaction, the media guidance application may generate a notification forthe user indicating the detected sound. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a sound notification (e.g., a doorbell sound)to play over playback of the media asset for the user indicating thedetected sound.

In some embodiments, when generating a notification for the userindicating the detected sound, the media guidance application maygenerate an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device,wherein the overlay contains a notification for the user about thesound. For example, the media guidance application may generate anoverlay (e.g., an overlay stating, “The doorbell is ringing!”) to bedisplayed on the media equipment device.

The media guidance application may modify playback of a media asset toallow the user to perform the action associated with the goal. Forexample, the media guidance application may modify playback of the mediaasset (e.g., pause a movie the user is watching) to allow the user toperform the action (e.g., leave the viewing environment) associated withthe goal (e.g., answer the door).

In some embodiments, when modifying playback of a media asset to allowthe user to perform the action associated with the goal, the mediaguidance application may retrieve, from the database, a set of playbackmodifications associated with the goal. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve, from the database, a set of playbackmodifications (e.g., pause, play, fast-forward, rewind, mute, turnon/off, etc.) associated with the goal.

The media guidance application may select a playback modification fromthe set of playback modifications based on preferences for the user. Forexample, the media guidance application may select a playbackmodification (e.g., pause) from the set of playback modifications basedon preferences for the user (e.g., the user does not want to miss anycontent while answering the door).

The media guidance application may modify playback of the media assetbased on the selected playback modification. For example, the mediaguidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on theselected playback modification (e.g., pause playback of the mediaasset).

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to performthe action, the media guidance application may generate a notificationfor a second user to perform the action. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a notification (e.g., send an SMS message tothe second user) to perform the action (e.g., answer the door).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect the sound using asensor (e.g., a microphone) contained within the viewing environment.

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to performthe action, the media guidance application may prevent the user frommodifying playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidanceapplication may prevent the user from modifying playback of the mediaguidance application (e.g., not allow the user to pause playback of themedia asset).

The media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset toprevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal.For example, the media guidance application may increase the volume ofplayback of the media asset to drown out the sound within the user'saudible range.

In some embodiments, when modifying playback of the media asset, themedia guidance application may determine a volume that dampens the soundthat is within the audible range. For example, the media guidance toapplication may determine a volume that is equivalent or higher than thedetermined volume of the sound within the audible range.

The media guidance application may adjust a volume corresponding toplayback of the media asset to be the volume that dampens the sound. Forexample, the media guidance application may adjust the playback volumeof the media asset to be a volume that is higher than the detectedvolume of the sound in the audible range.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The below and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of translating an irrelevantcommand into a pertinent playback modification to encourage a recipientof the command to execute on the command, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative embodiment of a display screen that may beused to provide media guidance application listings and other mediaguidance information, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows another illustrative embodiment of a display screen thatmay be used to provide media guidance application listings, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment (UE) device,in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for translating anon-playback command into a pertinent playback modification to encouragea recipient of the command to execute on the command, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts another illustrative flowchart of a process fortranslating a non-playback command into a pertinent playbackmodification to encourage a recipient of the command to execute on thecommand, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining acommand based on a characteristic of the second user, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for translating anon-playback command into a pertinent playback modification to encouragea recipient of the command to execute on the command, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining acommand based on the verbal input of the first user, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningan outcome based on attributes of the command, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detectingwhether the user leaves the viewing area of the media equipment devicethat is presenting the media asset, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure; and

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifyingplayback of the media asset based on the ranks of the users, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative embodiment of determining whether a useris authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of a sound, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of asound, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 16 depicts another illustrative flowchart of a process fordetermining whether a user is authorized to perform an action that meetsa goal of a sound, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for identifyingthe goal associated with the sound, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure;

FIG. 18 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detecting thepresence of the user in the viewing environment, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 19 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for generating anoverlay containing a notification, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure;

FIG. 20 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifyingplayback of the media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 21 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether the user is authorized to perform the action, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are provided herein for translating a commandunrelated to playback into a pertinent playback modification toencourage a recipient of the command to execute on the command. A mediaguidance application may determine a command from a first user to asecond user. The media guidance application may compare the command to aset of playback operation commands for a media asset that is currentlybeing played back. In response to the comparison, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the command is not contained within theset of playback operation commands. In response to determining that thecommand is not contained within the set of playback operation commands,the media guidance application may determine whether the second userexecutes a desired outcome of the command. And in response todetermining that the second user does not execute the desired outcome ofthe command, the media guidance application may determine whether tomodify playback of the media asset.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative embodiment of translating an irrelevantcommand into a pertinent playback modification to encourage a recipientof the command to execute on the command, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 1 depicts illustrative display 100,which may be presented by control circuitry that executes a mediaguidance application on any user equipment. The functionality of userequipment, control circuitry, and the media guidance application isdescribed in further detail with respects to FIGS. 2-5 .

The media guidance application may detect that first user 102 has issuedcommand 104. Command 104 may be a verbal input of a word or phrase. Themedia guidance application may detect that command 104 is directedtowards second user 106 (e.g., first user 102 may say “Time for dinner!”to second user 106). The media guidance application may be playing backmedia asset 108. The media guidance application may generate for displaytrick play bar 110 over media asset 108; trick play bar 110 may containall trick play functionalities (e.g., play, pause, stop, rewind,fast-forward, etc.). The media guidance application may, within trickplay bar 110, generate for display indicator 112, which may correspondto the current location of playback of media asset 108. The mediaguidance application may determine that command 114 corresponds to atrick play bar command (e.g., play, pause, stop, rewind, fast-forward,volume up, volume down, on/off, etc.) applied to the media asset (e.g.,the media asset is paused). The media guidance application may determinethat volume 116 may correspond to the current volume of playback ofmedia asset 108. The media guidance application may modify volume 116 inresponse to command 114.

In some embodiments, a media guidance application may detect a commandfrom a first user to a second user. The first user may be a user notcurrently watching playback of a media asset, and may be in anenvironment outside of the viewing environment of the media asset. Thesecond user may be a user currently viewing playback of media asset 108within the viewing environment of the media asset. For example, themedia guidance application may detect a verbal command (e.g., “Come tothe table for dinner!”) from the first user to the second user using ahome entertainment system (e.g., an Amazon Echo).

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application detects thecommand from the first user to the second user, the media guidanceapplication may detect a verbal input from the first user. The verbalinput may be a spoken word or phrase from the first user thatcorresponds to a command. For example, the media guidance applicationmay detect, using an audio detection sensor (e.g., a microphone), averbal input (e.g., the user saying, “Dinner's ready!”) from the firstuser. The media guidance application may compare an audio signaldetected by the sensor (e.g., the microphone) to known audio samplesfrom the first user, retrieved from a profile of the first user, todetermine that the audio signal is verbal input from the first user.

As another example, the media guidance application may detect a verbalinput from the first user using an intelligent personal assistant (IPA)(e.g., an Amazon Echo, Siri, etc.), where the IPA constantly listens foraudio inputs in an environment around the IPA to detect verbal inputfrom the user.

The media guidance application may compare the verbal input to adatabase of commands, where the database contains commands correspondingto each verbal input. The media guidance application may retrieve thedatabase of commands from the profile of the first user. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve the database of commandsfrom the profile for the first user and compare the verbal input (e.g.,the user saying, “Dinner's ready!”) to a database containing commands(e.g., eat dinner, answer the door, clean, vacuum, etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, acommand corresponding to the verbal input from the first user. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine, from the userprofile, that the verbal input (e.g., “Dinner's ready!”) corresponds tothe command (e.g., eat dinner) using pattern recognition between theinput and the command.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determines fromthe comparison a command corresponding to the verbal input from thefirst user, the media guidance application may determine a match betweenthe verbal input and the database of commands. The media guidanceapplication may determine potential matches between the verbal input andthe database of commands through keyword matching. For example, themedia guidance application may detect keywords in the verbal input(e.g., “dinner” and “ready”) and may compare these keywords to thedatabase of commands. Each command in the database of commands may havea plurality of keywords associated with it (e.g., the command “eatdinner” may have the keywords “dinner,” “food,” “hungry,” “eat,”“eating,” etc. associated with it). The media guidance application maydetermine that the verbal input matches a command when a single ormultiple keywords from the verbal input match a single or multiplekeywords associated with a command in the database of commands.

For example, the media guidance application may determine that theverbal input (e.g., “Dinner's ready!”) corresponds to the command (e.g.,eat dinner) because the verbal input matches keywords contained in thecommand (e.g., “dinner”). The media guidance application may determinethat the command corresponding to the match (e.g., eat dinner) is thecommand corresponding to the verbal input from the first user.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application determinesmultiple potential matches between the verbal input and the database ofcommands (e.g., the verbal input may match multiple different commands),the media guidance application may determine that a commandcorresponding to a match within the potential matches that contains themost keyword matches is the command corresponding to the verbal inputfrom the first user. For example, when the media guidance applicationdetermines that the verbal input (e.g., “Time to eat dinner!”) matchesmultiple commands (e.g., eat dinner, eat lunch, set timer etc.), themedia guidance application may determine that the match (e.g., eatdinner) contains the most keyword matches and thus is the commandcorresponding to the verbal input.

After determining the command given by the first user, the mediaguidance application may determine the context of the command and how itrelates to a playback operation. The media guidance application maycompare the command to a set of playback operation commands for a mediaasset that is currently being played back by the second user. The mediaguidance application may retrieve the set of playback operation commandsfrom a database in the profile. For example, the media guidanceapplication may compare the command (e.g., eat dinner) to a set ofplayback operation commands (e.g., pause, fast-forward, mute, etc.),retrieved from the profile, for a media asset (e.g., a movie) that iscurrently being played back by the second user.

In response to the comparison, the media guidance application maydetermine that the command is not contained within the set of playbackoperation commands. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that the command (e.g., eat dinner) is not contained withinthe set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause, fast-forward, mute,etc.).

The media guidance application may determine, based on a user profile ofthe first user and a user profile of the second user, a desired outcomeof the command from a plurality of outcomes of the command. The mediaguidance application may use attributes to determine the desiredoutcome, as described in detail below. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine a desired outcome of the command (e.g., thesecond user stops watching the movie and eats dinner) based on a userprofile of the first user (e.g., the profile may state that the firstuser is a mom) and a user profile of the second user (e.g., the secondprofile may state that the second user is the mom's son who obeys themom's commands), using the methods described below.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thedesired outcome of the command by determining attributes of the command.In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determining,based on the user profile of the first user and the user profile of thesecond user, the desired outcome of the command from the plurality ofoutcomes of the command, the media guidance application may determineattributes of the command. The media guidance application may analyzethe command to determine distinct attributes (e.g., the prosody (e.g.,using the tune and rhythm of speech to determine the meaning) of thecommand).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may analyze theaudio characteristics of the command to determine distinct attributes.In some embodiments, to determine distinct attributes, the mediaguidance application may compare the command with an audio sample in aplurality of audio samples, where each audio sample is associated with adistinct user, to determine the user speaking the command. The mediaguidance application may determine, using speech processing, thefollowing attributes, including the form of the utterance (e.g.,statement, question, or command), the presence of sarcasm or irony,emphasis, contrast, focus, and presence of infant-directed speech (e.g.,baby talk) using speech processing variables such as the pitch of thevoice (e.g., varying between low and high), the length of sounds (e.g.,varying between short and long), the loudness (e.g., varying betweensoft and loud), and the timbre of the sound. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine attributes of the command (e.g., thespeaker of the command, the tone of the command, seriousness of thecommand, etc.) using speech processing with pitch, length of sounds,loudness, and timbre speech processing variables corresponding to thecommand. In response to determining distinct attributes of the command,the media guidance application may compare the attributes of the commandto attributes of the plurality of outcomes of the command to determine adesired outcome.

The media guidance application may compare the attributes of the commandto attributes of the plurality of outcomes of the command. For example,the media guidance application may compare the attributes of the command(e.g., form of utterance, presence of sarcasm or irony, emphasis,contrast, focus, infant-direct speech, etc.) to attributes of theplurality of outcomes of the command (e.g., a result if the command isfollowed, a result if the command is ignored, a consequence of followingthe command, a consequence of not following the command, etc.). Themedia guidance application may retrieve the plurality of outcomes from adatabase in the profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve aplurality of outcomes of the command from the profile. The mediaguidance application may determine that each command in the database ofcommands is linked to a set of corresponding outcomes to said command.For example, the media guidance application may use a pointer from thecommand entry in the database to the set of corresponding outcomes. Thecorresponding outcomes to the said command may be predetermined by aneditor, and may also be updated and added to by the media guidanceapplication based on learned behaviors of the users.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may add an outcometo be linked to a command based on learned behavior. The media guidanceapplication may determine that a new outcome that occurred between thefirst and second user after a command was issued was not included in theset of corresponding outcomes to said command by comparing the newoutcome to the set of corresponding outcomes, and determining that thereis no overlap between the two pieces of data. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine from the comparison that a newoutcome (e.g., the second user answers his/her phone in response to thecommand) does not overlap the current set of corresponding outcomes(e.g., eat, pause the movie, do nothing).

The media guidance application may retrieve attributes of an outcome inthe plurality of outcomes from an attribute database in the profile.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieveattributes of an outcome from an attribute database that contains presetattributes, determined by an editor, that correspond to an outcome. Themedia guidance application may update the attribute database in responseto determining a new attribute that corresponds to an outcome, or toremove an attribute that corresponds to an outcome (e.g., no longer isan accurate attribute of the outcome), as described in detail below.Each attribute may have a pointer in the database that is directed tothe corresponding outcome. For example, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve attributes (e.g., user goes to dinner, user goes to thedining room, user eats food from plate on dinner table, user pausesplayback and leaves room to go to the dining room, etc.) correspondingto the outcome (e.g., eat dinner).

The media guidance application may determine that a new attributecorresponds to an outcome by determining that the outcome has occurred(e.g., detecting it using a sensor), and analyzing the occurred outcometo determine attributes of the outcome. The media guidance applicationmay determine attributes of the outcome based on the physical andauditory components of the outcome. The media guidance application maydetermine the attributes based on the auditory components of theoccurred outcome using methods similar to those described above inrelation to determining attributes of the command (e.g., by determiningthe prosody of the command).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determineattributes of the outcome based on physical components of the occurredoutcome. The media guidance application may detect a physical responsecorresponding to the outcome using a sensor. For example, the mediaguidance application may use a camera to detect the second userphysically leaving the viewing environment of the playback of the mediaasset. As another example, the media guidance application may use aninfrared sensor to determine a heat map of the viewing environment, todetect that the second user has not moved from his/her position in theviewing environment in response to hearing the command from the firstuser. The media guidance application may determine that the detectedphysical response is an attribute of the occurred outcome. The mediaguidance application may compare the determined attributes of theoccurred outcome to the attributes in the database corresponding to theoutcome, and may add any attributes from the occurred outcome that werenot in the attributes corresponding to the outcome.

For example, the media guidance application may determine, fromdetecting via a camera, that an outcome (e.g., the second user leavingthe viewing environment of the media asset) has occurred. The mediaguidance application may analyze the occurred outcome (e.g., the seconduser yelled out to the first user “I'm not hungry!”) to determineattributes of the outcome (e.g., based on the auditory and physicalcomponents of the occurred outcome). The media guidance application maydetermine that the user's negative response (e.g., based on the useryelling and the context of the user's response) and the user's failureto leave the viewing area are attributes of the occurred outcome (e.g.,the user does not follow the command).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may remove anattribute that corresponds to an outcome in response to determining thatthe attribute has not been present in a corresponding outcome after thesame outcome has occurred at least a threshold amount of times. Themedia guidance application may keep a counter in a plurality ofcounters, where each counter is associated with an attribute for aspecific outcome. The media guidance application may update the counter(e.g., add a value to the counter) for an attribute for a specificoutcome after the specific outcome has occurred and contained theattribute. The media guidance application may retrieve the thresholdamount of times from the profile, and the threshold value may be presetby an editor, and may be updated based on user input. The media guidanceapplication may compare the counter for the specific outcome to thethreshold value, and in response to determining that the counter isgreater than the threshold value, the media guidance application mayremove the attribute as an attribute that corresponds to the outcome.

For example, the media guidance application may remove an attribute(e.g., the second user yells “No” in response to the command) thatcorresponds to an outcome (e.g., the second user does not eat dinner).The media guidance application may determine that the attribute has notbeen present in a corresponding outcome after the same outcome hasoccurred at least a threshold amount of time (e.g., 10 times). The mediaguidance application may retrieve an editor-defined threshold amount oftimes from the profile (e.g., 10 times). The media guidance applicationmay compare the editor-defined threshold amount of times with a counterassociated with the outcome, and in response to determining that thecounter (e.g., 11 times) is greater than the threshold amount (e.g., 10times), the media guidance application may remove the attribute (e.g.,the second user yells “No” in response to the command) that correspondsto an outcome (e.g., the second user does not eat dinner).

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison, anoutcome in the plurality of outcomes that contains attributes of thecommand to be the desired outcome. The media guidance application mayuse a ranking system to determine, from the comparison, the desiredoutcome. For example, the media guidance application may determine, fromthe comparison, an outcome (e.g., the user pauses the movie to go eatdinner) that contains attributes of the command (e.g., an intendedconsequence of the command) to be the desired outcome.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine theoutcome in the plurality of outcomes that contains attributes of thecommand to be the desired outcome based on a rank of the outcome in theplurality of outcomes. The media guidance application may determine arank of an outcome of a plurality of outcomes based on the amount ofattributes that the outcome has in common with the attributes of thecommand (e.g., a percentage of attributes in common). The media guidanceapplication may determine that rank directly corresponds with thepercentage of attributes in common (e.g., the rank is higher when thepercentage is higher).

For example, the media guidance application may determine a rank of anoutcome in a plurality of outcomes by determining that the outcome has apercentage of attributes (e.g., 18 out of 20 attributes, or 90%) incommon with the attributes of the command (e.g., by comparing theattributes of the outcome with the attributes of the command). The mediaguidance application may determine that the rank of the outcome directlycorresponds with the percentage (e.g., ranked 90 out of 100).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may retrieve, fromthe preferences of the first user (e.g., the first user has a preferredoutcome for a specific command), an outcome corresponding to the firstuser's preferred outcome. The preferred outcome for the specific commandmay cause the outcome in the plurality of outcomes corresponding to thepreferred outcome to be the highest ranked outcome. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve an outcome (e.g., the seconduser gets up to go eat dinner) corresponding to the first user'spreferred outcome from the preferences of the first user. The mediaguidance application may determine that the preferred outcome ranks thehighest out of all the plurality of outcomes (e.g., ranks 100 out of100).

After determining the desired outcome of the command, the media guidanceapplication may determine the second user's reaction to the command todetermine whether it meets the desired outcome. The media guidanceapplication may detect an action executed by the second user. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect via a camera that theuser has left the viewing environment where playback of the movie isoccurring and has entered the dining room.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting anaction executed by the second user, the media guidance application maydetect using a sensor, the second user leaving a viewing environment ofa media equipment device that is presenting the media asset. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect via a motiondetection sensor that the second user is leaving the viewing environmentof the television the user is watching a movie on.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting anaction executed by the second user, the media guidance application maydetect, the second user executing a command to modify playback of themedia asset. For example, the media guidance application may detect theuser pressing an input command on a remote control device to “pause”playback of the film the user is watching.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is detecting anaction executed by the second user, the media guidance application maydetect, using a sensor, that the second user stays in the viewingenvironment of a media asset device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may detect using a heat-mapping sensor that the second userhas not left the couch where the user is watching playback of the movie.

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second userto the desired outcome of the command. For example, the media guidanceapplication may compare the action (e.g., the second user continuing towatch the movie) to the desired outcome of the command (e.g., the seconduser going to eat dinner).

In response to determining that the action of the second user does notcorrespond to the desired outcome of the command, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve characteristics of the second user from theuser profile of the second user. The media guidance application mayretrieve characteristics of the second user from a characteristicsdatabase in the user profile. The characteristics values stored in thedatabase may be determined based on user input (e.g., the user inputtinginformation via a user input device, such as a remote controller). Forexample, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics(e.g., age, relationship to the first user, user rank within household,etc.) from the user profile of the second user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may compare acharacteristic from the retrieved characteristics of the second user tothe command, where the characteristic is selected from a group ofcharacteristics consisting of age, rank, relationship to other users,and time of day, and the command is selected from a group of commandsconsisting of, eating, cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping.

The media guidance application may determine, from the comparison,whether the command shares a characteristic of the second user. Forexample, the media guidance application may determine, from thecomparison, whether the command (e.g., eating) shares a characteristicof the second user (e.g., time of day).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the command shares the “age” characteristic of the second user.The media guidance application may retrieve, from the profile, the agecharacteristics of the command. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the age characteristics of the command (e.g.,this command must be obeyed by any users under the age of 15, and may beignored by any users over the age of 15). The media guidance applicationmay compare the age (e.g., the second user is 10 years old) of thesecond user to the age characteristics of the command, and may determinethat the command shares the age characteristic of the second user (e.g.,the second user's age is within the age range (15 and under) of usersthat must obey the command).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the command shares the “relationship to other users”characteristic of the second user. The media guidance application mayretrieve the second user's relationship to the other users (e.g., thesecond user is the son of the first user) from the profile. The mediaguidance application may retrieve the relationship characteristic of thecommand (e.g., a hierarchy of who must obey commands based on therelationship of the user giving the command to the user receiving thecommand). The media guidance application may determine, based on thehierarchy, whether the second user has to obey the first user'scommands. In response to determining that “yes,” the second user has toobey the first user's commands, the media guidance application maydetermine that the command shares the “relationship to other users”characteristic with the second user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the command shares the “time of day” characteristic of thesecond user. The media guidance application may retrieve the “time ofday” characteristic (e.g., the user obeys commands from the first userbetween 5:00 pm-8:00 pm every day) from the profile of the second user.The time of day characteristic may be a predetermined value created froman input from the first user into the profile of the second user. Themedia guidance application may determine the time of day that thecommand was issued by the first user (e.g., 7:02 pm). The media guidanceapplication may compare this time to the time of day characteristic, anddetermine that the command shares the time of day characteristic withthe second user because the time the command was issued falls within thetimeframe from the time of day characteristic.

In some embodiments, when the media guidance application is determiningwhether to modify playback of the media asset based on the commanddetected from the first user and the retrieved characteristics of thesecond user, the media guidance application may retrieve a rank of thefirst user and a rank of the second user. The media guidance applicationmay retrieve the ranks of the first user and second user from theprofiles, where the ranks are preset values based on user input (e.g.,the first user selects the ranking order of all the users with useraccounts). For example, the media guidance application may retrieve arank of the first user (e.g., the first user is ranked first out of fiveusers) and a rank of the second user (e.g., the second user is rankedfourth out of five users).

The media guidance application may determine, from the rank, whether thefirst user is ranked higher than the second user. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the first user (e.g., rankedfirst) is ranked higher than the second user (e.g., ranked second).

In response to determining that the first user is ranked higher than thesecond user, the media guidance application may modify playback of themedia asset. For example, in response to determining that the first useris ranked higher than the second user, the media guidance applicationmay modify playback of the media asset (e.g., pause the movie currentlyplaying back).

In response to determining that the second user is ranked higher thanthe first user, the media guidance application may continue to play backthe media asset. For example, in response to determining that the seconduser is ranked higher than the first user, the media guidanceapplication may continue playback of the media asset (e.g., the moviethe second user is watching).

In response to determining that the command shares the characteristic,the media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset.For example, in response to determining that the command shares thecharacteristic, the media guidance application may modify playback ofthe media asset (e.g., pause playback of the media asset).

The media guidance application may determine the specific type ofplayback modification (e.g., pause, mute, rewind, fast-forward, turnoff, etc.) based on preferences for the first user. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve the first user's preferences from a playbackmodification database in the profile the first user. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve a playback modification from the database thatcorresponds to the command. The playback modifications corresponding toeach command may be preset by an editor, or by input from the firstuser.

For example, the media guidance application may determine the specifictype of playback modification based on preferences of the first user.The media guidance application may retrieve the first user's preferencesfrom a playback modification database in the profile of the first user.The media guidance application may retrieve a playback modification(e.g., turn off playback of the media asset) from the database thatcorresponds to the command (e.g., eat dinner).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may detect a commandfrom the first user to the second user and a third user. For example,the media guidance application may detect a command (e.g., eat dinner)from the first user to the second user and a third user. The mediaguidance application may detect a command using similar methods asdescribed above.

The media guidance application may determine, based on the user profileof the first user, the user profile of the second user and a userprofile of the third user, a desired outcome of the command from aplurality of outcomes of the command. The media guidance application maydetermine the desired outcome of the command using similar methods asdescribed above.

The media guidance application may detect a first action executed by thesecond user and a second action executed by the third user. For example,the media guidance application may detect a first action by the seconduser (e.g., the second user turns up the volume of the movie) and asecond action executed by the third user (e.g., a motion sensor maydetect that the third user leaves the viewing environment to go eatdinner). The media guidance application may detect the first actionexecuted by the second user and the second action executed by the thirduser using similar methods to detect actions as described above.

The media guidance application may compare the action of the second userand the action of the third user to determine the desired outcome of thecommand. For example, the media guidance application may compare theaction of the second user (e.g., turning up the volume of the movie viaa remote) and the action of the third user (e.g., a motion sensordetecting the third user leaving the viewing environment) to the desiredoutcome of the command (e.g., the second and third users going to eatdinner).

In response to determining that the action of the second user and theaction of the third user do not correspond to the desired outcome of thecommand, the media guidance application may retrieve characteristics ofthe second user from the user profile of the second user andcharacteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user.

The media guidance application may determine whether to modify playbackof the media asset based on the command detected from the first user andthe retrieved characteristics of the second user and the retrievedcharacteristics of the third user. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine to modify playback of the media asset based onthe command detected from the first user (e.g., eat dinner) and theretrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., rank, etc.) and theretrieved characteristics of the third user (e.g., rank, etc.) becausethe command outranks the ranks of the second and third user. As anotherexample, the media guidance application may determine not to modifyplayback of the media asset based on the command detected from the firstuser (e.g., eat dinner) and the retrieved characteristics of the firstuser (e.g., rank, etc.) and the retrieved characteristics of the thirduser (e.g., rank, etc.) because the ranks of the second and third useroutrank the rank of the command and first user.

As yet another example, the media guidance application may determine topartially modify play back (e.g., mute the audio of the playback, butplayback the audio via Bluetooth headphones for user three) of the mediaasset based on the command detected from the first user (e.g., eatdinner) and the retrieved characteristics of the first user (e.g., rank,etc.) and the retrieved characteristics of the third user (e.g., rank,etc.) because the rank of only the third user outranks the rank of thecommand and first user.

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, chat sessions, social media,applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content or data used in operating the guidance application.For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, user profile information, medialistings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcastchannels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parentalcontrol ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information,actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos,etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D,etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type ofguidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locatedesired content selections.

FIGS. 2-3 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 2-3 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 2-3 are illustrated as full screen displays, they mayalso be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A usermay indicate a desire to access content information by selecting aselectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, alistings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicatedbutton (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user inputinterface or device. In response to the user's indication, the mediaguidance application may provide a display screen with media guidancedata organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in agrid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category(e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria.

FIG. 2 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 200arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different typesof content in a single display. Display 200 may include grid 202 with:(1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 204, where eachchannel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column)identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a rowof time identifiers 206, where each time identifier (which is a cell inthe row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 202 also includescells of program listings, such as program listing 208, where eachlisting provides the title of the program provided on the listing'sassociated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can selectprogram listings by moving highlight region 210. Information relating tothe program listing selected by highlight region 210 may be provided inprogram information region 212. Region 212 may include, for example, theprogram title, the program description, the time the program is provided(if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), theprogram's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined time and is provided according to aschedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 202 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 214, recorded content listing 216, andInternet content listing 218. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentthan display 200 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings214, 216, and 218 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 202 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 202. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 220. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 220.)

Display 200 may also include video region 222, and options region 226.Video region 222 may allow the user to view and/or preview programs thatare currently available, will be available, or were available to theuser. The content of video region 222 may correspond to, or beindependent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 202. Griddisplays including a video region are sometimes referred to aspicture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalitiesare described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No.6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794,issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference hereinin their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other mediaguidance application display screens of the embodiments describedherein.

Options region 226 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 226 may be part of display 200 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 226 may concern features related to program listings in grid 202or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options, parental controloptions, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronizationoptions, second screen device options, options to access various typesof media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premiumservice, options to edit a user's profile, options to access a browseoverlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.Tivo.com, from other media guidance applicationsthe user accesses, from other interactive applications the useraccesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.), and/orobtain information about the user from other sources that the mediaguidance application may access. As a result, a user can be providedwith a unified guidance application experience across the user'sdifferent user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 5 . Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 3 . Video mosaic display 300 includes selectable options 302 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 300, television listings option 304 isselected, thus providing listings 306, 308, 310, and 312 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 300 the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 308 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 314 and text portion 316.Media portion 314 and/or text portion 316 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 314 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 300 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 306 islarger than listings 308, 310, and 312), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 4 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 400. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 5 .User equipment device 400 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 402. I/O path 402 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 404, which includesprocessing circuitry 406 and storage 408. Control circuitry 404 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 402. I/O path 402 may connect control circuitry 404 (andspecifically processing circuitry 406) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 404 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 406. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 404 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 408). Specifically, control circuitry 404 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 404 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 404 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 404 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 5 ). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 408 thatis part of control circuitry 404. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 408 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used(e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-basedstorage, described in relation to FIG. 5 , may be used to supplementstorage 408 or instead of storage 408.

Control circuitry 404 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 404 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 400. Circuitry 404 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 408 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 400, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 408.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 404 using user inputinterface 410. User input interface 410 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 412 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400. For example, display 412 may be a touchscreen ortouch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 410may be integrated with or combined with display 412. Display 412 may beone or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD)for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature polysilicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, activematrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathoderay tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescentdisplay, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display,thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 412 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 412 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 412.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry404. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 404.Speakers 414 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 400 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 412 may be played throughspeakers 414. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers414.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone applicationwholly-implemented on user equipment device 400. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage408), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodicbasis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, orusing another suitable approach). Control circuitry 404 may retrieveinstructions of the application from storage 408 and process theinstructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based onthe processed instructions, control circuitry 404 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 410. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 410 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 400 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 400. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 404 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 404) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 400. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 400.Equipment device 400 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 410 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 400 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 410.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 400 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 404). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 404 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 404. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 404. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 400 of FIG. 4 can be implemented in system 500 ofFIG. 5 as user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504,wireless user communications device 506, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 4 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, or awireless user communications device 506. For example, user televisionequipment 502 may, like some user computer equipment 504, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 504 may, like some television equipment 502, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 504, theguidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 506.

In system 500, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 5 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 502, user computer equipment 504, wireless user communicationsdevice 506) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the web site www.Tivo.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 514.Namely, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, andwireless user communications device 506 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 514 via communications paths 508, 510, and 512, respectively.Communications network 514 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 508, 510, and 512 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 512 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5 it is awireless path and paths 508 and 510 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired).

Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by one ormore of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path inFIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 508, 510, and 512, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 514.

System 500 includes content source 516 and media guidance data source518 coupled to communications network 514 via communication paths 520and 522, respectively. Paths 520 and 522 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 508, 510,and 512.

Communications with the content source 516 and media guidance datasource 518 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, butare shown as a single path in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 516 and media guidance data source 518 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 516 and 518 withuser equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 are shown as throughcommunications network 514, in some embodiments, sources 516 and 518 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 508, 510, and 512.

Content source 516 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 516 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 516 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 516 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 518 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may beprovided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. Insome embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-aloneinteractive television program guide that receives program guide datavia a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Programschedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the userequipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digitalsignal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitabledata transmission technique. Program schedule data and other mediaguidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog ordigital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 518may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 518 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 518 mayprovide user equipment devices 502, 504, and 506 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data.For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical useractivity information (e.g., what content the user typically watches,what times of day the user watches content, whether the user interactswith a social network, at what times the user interacts with a socialnetwork to post information, what types of content the user typicallywatches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information,etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. Forexample, the subscription data may identify to which sources or servicesa given user subscribes and/or to which sources or services the givenuser has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g.,whether the user subscribes to premium channels, whether the user hasadded a premium level of services, whether the user has increasedInternet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or thesubscription data may identify patterns of a given user for a period ofmore than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., asurvivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihooda given user will terminate access to a service/source. For example, themedia guidance application may process the viewer data with thesubscription data using the model to generate a value or score thatindicates a likelihood of whether the given user will terminate accessto a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score mayindicate a higher level of confidence that the user will terminateaccess to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the mediaguidance application may generate promotions that entice the user tokeep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one towhich the user will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 408, and executedby control circuitry 404 of a user equipment device 400. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 404 of user equipment device 400and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 518) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 518), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 518 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices502, 504, and 506 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 500 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 5 .

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 514.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. PatentPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 516 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 502 and user computer equipment 504may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 506 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 514. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 516 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 518. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and wirelessuser communications device 506. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 504 or wireless usercommunications device 506 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 504. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 514. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 4 .

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as aresult of. For example, a first action being performed in response to asecond action may include interstitial steps between the first actionand the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly inresponse to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action beingperformed directly in response to a second action may not includeinterstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for translating anon-playback command into a pertinent playback modification to encouragea recipient of the command to execute on the command, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 600, and any of thefollowing processes, may be executed by control circuitry 404 (e.g., ina manner instructed to control circuitry 404 by the media guidanceapplication). Control circuitry 404 may be part of user equipment (e.g.,user equipment 100, which may have any or all of the functionality ofuser television equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/orwireless communications device 506), or of a remote server separatedfrom the user equipment by way of communication network 514, ordistributed over a combination of both.

Process 600 begins at 602, where control circuitry 404 determines acommand from first user 102 to second user 106. Control circuitry 404determines the command from first user 102 to second user 106 bydetecting audio output 104 from first user 102 using a sensor, usertelevision equipment 502, user computer equipment 504, and/or wirelessuser communications device 512. For example, control circuitry 404 maydetermine a command (e.g., eat dinner) from first user 102 to seconduser 104 by detecting a verbal output (e.g., “Time for dinner!”) fromfirst user 102 using an audio sensor.

At 604, control circuitry 404 compares the command to a set of playbackoperation commands for a media asset that is currently being playedback. Control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of playback operationcommands for the media asset from storage 408 or over communicationsnetwork 514. Control circuitry 404 compares the command to the retrievedset of playback operations using processing circuitry 406. For example,control circuitry 404 compares the command (e.g., “eat dinner”) to a setof playback operation commands (e.g., pause, play, rewind, fast-forward,stop, mute, etc.) for the media asset currently being played back.

At 606, control circuitry 404 determines whether the command iscontained within the set of playback operations. If, at 606, controlcircuitry 404 determines that “Yes,” the command is contained within theset of playback operations, then process 606 reverts to process 602.

If, at 606, control circuitry 404 determines that “No,” the command isnot contained within the set of playback operations, then process 606continues to process 608. At 608, control circuitry 404 determineswhether second user 106 executes a desired outcome of the command.Control circuitry 404 determines whether second user 106 executes acommand using similar methods as described above. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may use wireless user communications device 506 to detectan action that second user 106 executes (e.g., tracking the user's phoneto determine whether the user leaves the viewing environment).

At 610, in response to determining that the second user does not executethe desired outcome of the command, control circuitry 404 determineswhether to modify playback of the media asset. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may retrieve a rank of each of the users stored in storage408 or retrieved via communications network 514. Control circuitry 404may determine whether first user 102 ranks higher than second user 106,and in response to determining that first user 102 ranks higher thansecond user 106, control circuitry 404 may modify playback of the mediaasset. For example, the media guidance application may mute volume ofplayback of the media asset 116 through speakers 414. As anotherexample, the media guidance application may turn off display 412.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for translating anon-playback command into a pertinent playback modification to encouragea recipient of the command to execute on the command, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 700 begins at 702, wherecontrol circuitry 404 detects a command from first user 104 to seconduser 106. Control circuitry 404 detects the command from first user 104to second user 106 by detecting audio output 104 from first user 104using a sensor, user television equipment 502, user computer equipment504, and/or wireless user communications device 512. For example,control circuitry 404 may detect a command from a first user to a seconduser by detecting a verbal output from the first user using an audiosensor.

At 704, control circuitry 404 compares the command to a set of playbackoperation commands for a media asset that is currently being played backby second user 106. Control circuitry 404 retrieves a set of playbackoperation commands for media asset 108 from storage 408 or mediaguidance data source 518, or via communications network 514. Controlcircuitry 404 compares the command to the retrieved set of playbackoperations using processing circuitry 406. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may retrieve a set of playback operation commands (e.g.,pause, play, rewind, fast-forward, stop, etc.) from a database instorage 408. Control circuitry 404 may compare the command to the set ofretrieved playback operation commands.

At 706, control circuitry 404 determines whether the command iscontained within the set of playback operations. If, at 706, controlcircuitry 404 determines that “Yes,” the command is contained within theset of playback operations, process 706 reverts to process 702.

If, at 706, control circuitry 404 determines that “No,” the command isnot contained within the set of playback operations, process 706proceeds to process 708. At 708, control circuitry 404 determines thatthe command is not contained within the set of playback operationcommands. For example, control circuitry 404 may determine, usingprocessing circuitry 406, that the command (e.g., eat dinner) is notcontained within the set of playback operation commands (e.g., pause,play, stop, rewind, fast-forward, etc.).

At 710, control circuitry 404 determines, based on a user profile offirst user 102 and a user profile of second user 106, a desired outcomeof the command from a plurality of outcomes of the command. Controlcircuitry 404 retrieves the user profile of first user 102 and the userprofile of second user 106 from storage 408 or media guidance datasource 518, or via communications network 514. Control circuitry 404determines the desired outcome of the command using similar methods asdescribed above.

At 712, control circuitry 404 detects an action executed by second user106. Control circuitry 404 determines the action second user 106executes using similar methods as described above. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may use wireless user communications device 506 (e.g., acamera) to detect an action that the second user executes (e.g.,tracking the user's movements to determine whether the user leaves theviewing environment). At 714, control circuitry 404 compares the actionof second user 106 to the desired outcome of the command. Controlcircuitry 404 compares the action of the second user to the desiredoutcome of the command using similar methods as described above. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may compare the action (e.g., the usernot moving from the couch) to the desired outcome (e.g., the user goingto eat dinner).

At 716, in response to determining that the action of second user 106does not correspond to the desired outcome of the command, controlcircuitry 404 retrieves characteristics of second user 106 from the userprofile of second user 106. Control circuitry 404 retrievescharacteristics of the second user from a database in storage 408corresponding to the user profile or via communications network 514. Forexample, control circuitry 404 retrieves characteristics of the seconduser (e.g., the second user is 10 years old) from a database in storage408 corresponding to the second user's profile. At 718, controlcircuitry 404 determines whether to modify playback of the media assetbased on the command detected from first user 102 and the retrievedcharacteristics of second user 106. Control circuitry 404 may determinewhether to modify playback of the media asset based on the command andthe retrieved characteristics using similar methods as described above.For example, control circuitry 404 may determine whether to modifyplayback of the media asset based on the ranking between the two users,as retrieved from a database corresponding to the user profiles instorage 408.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining acommand based on a characteristic of second user 106, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 800 begins at 802, wherecontrol circuitry 404 compares a characteristic from the retrievedcharacteristics of the second user to the command, where thecharacteristic is selected from a group of characteristics consisting ofage, rank, relationship to other users, and time of day, and where thecommand is selected from a group of commands consisting of, eating,cleaning, studying, cooking, and sleeping. Control circuitry 404retrieves the characteristics from a database in storage 408. Controlcircuitry 404 compares the characteristic to the command using similarmethods as described above. For example, control circuitry 404 maycompare a characteristic (e.g., age) from the retrieved characteristicsto the command (e.g., eating).

At 804, control circuitry 404 determines, from the comparison, whetherthe command shares a characteristic of second user 106. Controlcircuitry 404 retrieves characteristics of the command from a databasein storage 408 to use in the comparison. For example, control circuitry404 may determine, using processing circuitry 406, that the command(e.g., eating) shares a characteristic (e.g., the time of daycorresponds to dinner time) of second user 106. At 806, in response todetermining that the command shares the characteristic, controlcircuitry 404 modifies playback of the media asset. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may pause playback of the media asset on user televisionequipment 502. As another example, the control circuitry 404 may mutethe sound of the playback of the media asset (e.g., volume 116) throughspeakers 414. As yet another example, control circuitry 404 may poweroff display 412 that was displaying playback of the media asset.

FIG. 9 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for translating anon-playback command into a pertinent playback modification to encouragea recipient of the command to execute on the command, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 900 begins at 902, wherecontrol circuitry 404 detects a command from first user 102 to seconduser 106 and a third user. For example, control circuitry 404 may detecta command from a first user to the second user and a third user bydetecting a verbal output from the first user using an audio sensor.

At 904, control circuitry 404 determines, based on a user profile offirst user 102, the user profile of second user 106 and a user profileof the third user, a desired outcome of the command from a plurality ofoutcomes of the command. For example, control circuitry 404 maydetermine a desired outcome of the command based on retrievingattributes of the command from a database in storage 408 or mediaguidance data source 518, or via communications network 514.

At 906, control circuitry 404 detects a first action executed by thesecond user and a second action executed by the third user. Controlcircuitry 404 determines the action that the second user executes andthe action that the third user executes using similar methods asdescribed above. For example, control circuitry 404 may use wirelessuser communications device 506 (e.g., a camera) to detect the actionsthat the second user and third user execute (e.g., tracking the user'smovements to determine whether the user leaves the viewing environment).

At 908, control circuitry 404 compares the action of second user 106 andthe action of the third user to the desired outcome of the command. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may compare the action of second user 106(e.g., still watching the media asset) and the action of the third user(e.g., still watching the media asset) to the desired outcome of thecommand (e.g., walking to the dinner table).

At 910, in response to determining that the action of the second userand the action of the third user do not correspond to the desiredoutcome of the command, control circuitry 404 retrieves characteristicsof second user 106 from the user profile of second user 106 andcharacteristics of the third user from a user profile of the third user.For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve characteristics of thesecond user from a database in storage 408 corresponding to the seconduser's profile, and may retrieve characteristics of the third user froma profile of the third user stored on a remote server via communicationsnetwork 514.

At 912, control circuitry 404 determines whether to modify playback ofthe media asset based on the command detected from first user 102 andthe retrieved characteristics of second user 106 and the retrievedcharacteristics of the third user. For example, control circuitry 404determines whether to modify playback of the media asset based on a rankassociated with each user.

FIG. 10 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determining acommand based on verbal input 104 of first user 102, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1000 begins at 1002, wherecontrol circuitry 404 detects a verbal input 104 from first user 102.For example, control circuitry 404 may use an audio sensor to detectverbal input 104 from first user 102. In some instances, the audiosensor may be contained within user television equipment 502, usercomputer equipment 504, and/or wireless user communications device 506.

At 1004, control circuitry 404 compares verbal input 104 to a databaseof verbal commands, where the database contains commands correspondingto each verbal command. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the database ofverbal commands from storage 408 or over communications network 514. Forexample, control circuitry 404 compares the verbal input (e.g.,“Dinner's ready!”) to the database of verbal commands received fromstorage 408. At 1006, control circuitry 404 determines, from a profileof the user, a command corresponding to the verbal input from first user102. Control circuitry 404 determines the command corresponding to theverbal input using similar methods as described above. For example,control circuitry 404 may use processing circuitry 406 to compare theverbal input to the database of verbal commands based on keywordmatching.

FIG. 11 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningan outcome based on attributes of the command, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1100 begins at 1102, wherecontrol circuitry 404 determines attributes of the command. For example,control circuitry 404 may determine attributes of the command based onanalyzing the audio associated with the command, as described above. At1104, control circuitry 404 compares the attributes of the command toattributes of the plurality of outcomes of the command. For example,control circuitry 404 may compare the attributes of the command toattributes of the plurality of outcomes of the command, which may beretrieved from storage 408.

At 1106, control circuitry 404 determines, from the comparison, anoutcome in the plurality of outcomes that contains attributes of thecommand to be the desired outcome. For example, control circuitry 404may determine an outcome in the plurality of outcomes with the highestrank to be the desired outcome.

FIG. 12 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detectingwhether second user 106 leaves the viewing area of the media equipmentdevice that is presenting the media asset, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1200 begins at 1202, wherecontrol circuitry 404 detects the second user executing a command tomodify playback of the media asset. For example, control circuitry 404may receive a user input command (e.g., a “pause” command) from userinput interface 410 that modifies playback (e.g., pauses the mediaasset) of the media asset.

At 1204, control circuitry 404 determines whether the user leaves aviewing environment of the media equipment device that is presenting themedia asset. If, at 1204, control circuitry 404 determines that “Yes,”second user 106 leaves a viewing environment of the media equipmentdevice that is presenting the media asset, process 1204 proceeds toprocess 1206. At 1206, control circuitry 404 detects, using a sensor,the second user leaving a viewing environment of a media equipmentdevice that is presenting the media asset. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may use wireless user communications device 506 (e.g., acamera) to track the second user's movements to detect when the seconduser leaves the viewing environment of the media equipment device thatis presenting the media asset.

If, at 1204, control circuitry 404 determines that “No,” the user doesnot leave a viewing environment of the media equipment device that ispresenting the media asset, process 1204 proceeds to 1208. At 1208,control circuitry 404 detects, using a sensor, that the second userstays in the viewing environment of a media asset device. For example,control circuitry 404 may use wireless user communications device 506(e.g., the second user's cell phone) to track the second user'smovements, through GPS, to detect that the second has not left theviewing environment of the media equipment device that is presenting themedia asset.

FIG. 13 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifyingplayback of the media asset based on the rank of the users, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 1300 beginsat 1302, where control circuitry 404 retrieves a rank of the first userand a rank of the second user. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the rankof the first user and the rank of the second user from a databasecorresponding to the profiles for the users in storage 408. In someinstances, control circuitry 404 retrieves the ranks from communicationsnetwork 514. For example, control circuitry 404 may retrieve the rank ofthe first user (e.g., rank of 1 out of 4) and the rank of the seconduser (e.g., rank of 3 out of 4).

At 1304, control circuitry 404 determines whether the rank of first user102 is higher than the rank of second user 106. Control circuitry 404uses processing circuitry 406 to compare the rank of the first user tothe rank of the second user. If, at 1304, control circuitry 404determines that “Yes,” the rank of the first user is higher than therank of the second user, then process 1304 proceeds to process 1306. At1306, control circuitry 404 modifies playback of the media asset. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may pause playback of the media asset onuser television equipment 502. As another example, the control circuitry404 may mute the sound of the playback of the media asset throughspeakers 414. As yet another example, control circuitry 404 may poweroff display 412 that was displaying playback of the media asset.

If, at 1304, control circuitry 404 determines that “No,” the rank of thefirst user is not higher than the rank of the second user, then process1304 proceeds to process 1308. At 1308, control circuitry 404 continuesto play back the media asset.

Systems and methods are also provided herein for determining whether auser is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of a sound. Amedia guidance application may detect a sound generated by a firstdevice external to a media equipment device. The media guidanceapplication may retrieve, from a lookup table, a known goal that isassociated with the sound. The media guidance application may detect auser in a viewing environment. The media guidance application maydetermine an identity of the user. And the media guidance applicationmay modify playback to encourage or discourage the user from achievingthe known goal based on the identity of the user.

FIG. 14 . shows an illustrative embodiment of determining whether a useris authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of a sound, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 14 depictsillustrative display 1400, which may be presented by control circuitrythat executes a media guidance application on any user equipment. Thefunctionality of user equipment, control circuitry, and the mediaguidance application is described in further detail with respects toFIGS. 2-5 .

The media guidance application may output sound 1406 from first device1402, in response to detecting action 1404. For example, the mediaguidance application may output sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing,smoke alarm, ringtone, etc.), from first device 1402 (e.g., a doorbell,smoke alarm, cell phone, etc.), in response to detecting action 1404(e.g., a user pressing the doorbell, a smoke alarm detecting smoke, acell phone ringing). The media guidance application may determine thatfirst user 1408 and second user 1410 are watching playback of mediaasset 1412, which may include playback audio 1414. The media guidanceapplication may determine that first user 1408 and second user 1410 arewatching media asset 1412 in first physical environment 1416. The mediaguidance application may detect that sound 1406 originates in secondphysical environment 1418, which may be a separate environment fromfirst environment 1416.

In some embodiments, a media guidance application may detect a soundgenerated by a first device external to a media equipment device. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect, using a sensor, asound (e.g., a doorbell ringing) by a first device (e.g., a doorbell)external to a media equipment device (e.g., a television). The mediaguidance application may detect a sound generated by the first deviceusing similar methods as detecting a verbal input, as described above.

For example, the media guidance application may detect a sound generatedby a first device external to a media equipment device using anintelligent personal assistant (IPA) (e.g., an Amazon Echo, Google Home,Siri, etc.), where the IPA constantly listens for audio inputs in firstphysical environment 1416 and second physical environment 1418.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine that anetwork of connected IPAs exist, where each connected IPA exists in itsown environment and communicates with other IPAs over a wirelessnetwork. For example, the media guidance application may determine thata network of connected IPAs exists (e.g., an Amazon Echo in the livingroom, a Ring doorbell camera at the front door, etc.) and communicatewith one another over a wireless network. In some instances, the networkIPAs may be configured in a slave/master setup.

The media guidance application may use a goal associated with the sound(e.g., for a doorbell ringing, the associated goal may be for a user toanswer the door) and a potential user action (e.g., pausing playback ofmedia asset 1412 to get up and open the door) to help determine whetherthe user is authorized to perform the action that meets the goal of thesound. As referred to herein, a “goal associated with the sound” isdefined to be a preferred action taken by the user as a result of beinginformed of the sound. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that a goal associated with a doorbell ringing may be for theuser to answer the door. As another example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that a goal associated with a smoke alarmbeeping may be for the user to exit the house and/or environmentcontaining the smoke alarm. As yet another example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that another goal associated with a smokealarm beeping may be for the user to change the batteries in the smokealarm.

The media guidance application may store a database that associates agoal in a plurality of goals with a set of actions in a plurality ofactions and a sound in a plurality of sounds. The media guidanceapplication may store the database in a user profile. The values storedin the database (e.g., goals, actions, sounds) may be preset by aneditor, and may be edited by user input.

For example, the media guidance application may store a database thatassociates a goal (e.g., answer the door) in a plurality of goals (e.g.,answer the door, do not answer the door, etc.) with a set of actions(e.g., continue watching playback of a media asset and ignore thedoorbell) in a plurality of actions (e.g., pause playback of a mediaasset to answer the door, continue watching playback of a media assetand ignore the doorbell, etc.) and a sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing) ina plurality of sounds (e.g., doorbell ringing, phone ringing, smokedetector beeping, etc.).

The media guidance application may compare attributes of the soundgenerated by first device 1402 with entries of the database to determinea goal associated with the sound and a corresponding set of actionsassociated with the goal. For example, the media guidance applicationmay compare sound 1406 generated by first device 1402 (e.g., a doorbellringing) with entries of the database to determine a goal associatedwith sound 1406 (e.g., answer the door) and a corresponding set ofactions associated with the goal (e.g., pause playback of the mediaasset, leave viewing environment 1516 to answer the door, etc.).

In some embodiments, when comparing sound 1406 generated by first device1402 with the database to determine a goal associated with the sound anda corresponding set of actions associated with the goal, the mediaguidance application may determine a match between sound 1406 and anentry in the database based on characteristics of sound 1406. Forexample, the media guidance application may use characteristics of sound1406 (e.g., tone, loudness, frequency, etc.) to match the sound with itscorresponding entry in the database.

For example, the media guidance application may determine thecharacteristics (e.g., attributes) of sound 1406 using sound processingtechniques, as described in more detail above. The media guidanceapplication may determine whether there is a match between a sound andan entry by determining if the sound and an entry in a plurality ofentries has a threshold amount of characteristics in common. The mediaguidance application may retrieve the threshold amount from the profile,and the threshold amount may be preset by an editor that may be updatedbased on user input. For example, the media guidance application maydetermine that sound 1406 (e.g., doorbell ringing) has a thresholdamount of characteristics (e.g., may be three or more characteristics)in common with the entry (e.g., doorbell sound) in a plurality ofentries (e.g., doorbell sound, fire alarm sound, phone ringing, etc.).

In some embodiments, when comparing the sound generated by the firstdevice with the database to determine a goal associated with sound 1406and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal, the mediaguidance application may determine a match between sound 1406 and anentry in the database based on a fingerprint of sound 1406. As referredto herein, a “fingerprint” of the sound is a condensed digital summary,deterministically generated from an audio signal, that can be used toidentify an audio sample. The media guidance application may compare thefingerprint of the sound with fingerprints of audio associated with eachentry in the database. The media guidance application may determine amatch between the fingerprints when the fingerprints are the same withina tolerance range, where the tolerance range is stored in the profileand preset by an editor.

The media guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, the goalassociated with the sound. For example, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve, from the entry, the goal (e.g., answer the door)associated with the sound (e.g., a doorbell ringing).

The media guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, thecorresponding set of actions associated with the goal. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve, from the entry, thecorresponding set of actions (e.g., watch playback of the media asset,turn up the volume of playback of the media asset, etc.) associated withthe goal (e.g., answer the door).

The media guidance application may detect a user in viewing environment1416 of the media equipment device. For example, the media guidanceapplication may use a sensor (e.g., a camera) to detect the user infirst viewing environment 1416 of the media equipment device (e.g., atelevision).

In some embodiments, when detecting the user in first viewingenvironment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application maydetect, using a sensor, a presence of first user 1408 in first viewingenvironment 1416. For example, the media guidance application may use aninfrared sensor to determine a thermal map of first viewing environment1416, and detect that first user 1408 is in first viewing environment1416 of the media equipment device (e.g., a television) based ondetecting the user's heat signature in the thermal map.

In some embodiments, when detecting first user 1408 in first viewingenvironment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application maydetect, using a camera, a presence of the user in the viewingenvironment. For example, the media guidance application may use acamera to detect the user in the viewing environment of the mediaequipment device (e.g., a television). Systems and methods for detectinga user in a viewing environment of the media equipment device aredescribed in greater detail in Panchaksharaiah et al. U.S. applicationSer. No. 15/200,194, filed Jul. 1, 2016, Panchaksharaiah et al. U.S.application Ser. No. 15/200,216, filed Jul. 1, 2016, and Blake et al.U.S. application Ser. No. 15/200,638, filed Jul. 1, 2016, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

In some embodiments, when detecting first user 1408 in first viewingenvironment 1416 of the media device, the media guidance application maydetect, using Global Positioning System (GPS), a presence of first user1408 in first viewing environment 1416. For example, the media guidanceapplication may detect, via GPS associated with a user device associatedwith the user (e.g., the user's cell phone, wearable technology (e.g.,an Apple Watch), etc.) the user's location. The media guidanceapplication may determine from the user's location (e.g., GPScoordinates) whether the user is in the viewing environment of the mediadevice, based on the known location of the viewing environment.

The media guidance application may determine, from a user profile offirst user 1408, whether the user is authorized to perform an action inthe determined set of actions associated with the goal. For example, themedia guidance application may retrieve, from an authorization databasein the user's profile, whether the user is authorized to perform anaction (e.g., leave the viewing environment) associated with the goal(e.g., answer the door). The media guidance application may store theuser's authorization status (e.g., either the user is or is notauthorized to perform an action) in the authorization database in theuser profile, where the authorization status is determined using themethods described below.

In some embodiments, when determining, from a user profile of the user,whether the user is authorized to perform an action in the determinizedset of actions associated with the goal, the media guidance applicationmay retrieve, from the user profile, a rank for the user. For example,the media guidance application may retrieve a rank for the user (e.g., 8out of 10).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthat user's rank is dynamic and may be updated frequently in the userprofile. The media guidance application may determine that the user'srank is determined based on multiple factors, including the presence ofother users in the viewing environment/house, the age of the user, etc.The media guidance application may determine that a value is assigneddynamically to each factor (e.g., the values may be assigned bycomparing the factor to a lookup table of values, where the lookup tablevalues were determined by an editor and may be updated based on userinput). For example, the media guidance application may determine thatthe user's rank is higher when more users are present in the viewingenvironment and as the user's age increases.

The media guidance application may calculate the user's rank from themultiple factors by retrieving a weight assigned to each factor (e.g.,between 0% to 100%). The media guidance application may determine thatthe weight assigned to each factor is predetermined and assigned by aneditor, and it may be updated based on user input. The media guidanceapplication may then calculate, using the weight for each factor and thevalue for each factor (e.g., by summing for the several factors theproducts of the weight and value for each factor), a rank (e.g., between0 and 100) for the user. For example, the media guidance application maycalculate, using the weight of each factor (e.g., the user's ageweight=50%, the presence of other users in the viewing environmentweight=50%) and the value for each factor (e.g., the user's agevalue=15, the presence of other users in the viewing environment=50) arank (e.g., 0.5*15+0.5*50=32.5 out of 100) for the user.

The media guidance application may retrieve, from a database, a rank foran action. The media guidance application may determine that the rankfor the action is preset by an editor, and may be updated from a userinput. For example, the media guidance application may retrieve, from adatabase, a rank (e.g., 50 out of 100) for an action (e.g., leave theviewing environment).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may dynamicallydetermine the rank of an action. The media guidance application may usefactors such as the users present in the viewing environment/house, theuser's age, the risk, etc. to determine the rank. For example, the mediaguidance application may use sensors to determine whether any otherusers are present in the viewing environment or house after detectingthe sound. In response to determining that no other users are present,the media guidance application may rank the action higher, as it mayindicate a situation where the user should not complete the action(e.g., the user is a child home alone, and thus should not answer thedoor to a stranger). The media guidance application may determine therank of the action based on factors using similar methods as whendetermining the rank of the user based on factors, as described above.

As another example, the media guidance application may rank the actionaccording to the risk the action presents. The media guidanceapplication may determine the risk by analyzing the potential outcome ofthe action. For example, the media guidance application may, using acamera, determine the identity of the person using the user device(e.g., doorbell) to generate the sound. If the media guidanceapplication determines that the person is a stranger (e.g., by using theimages generated by the camera to compare the face of the person withfaces associated with known users from the user profiles, anddetermining there is not a match between the person's face and a knownuser's face), the media guidance application may highly rank the actionbecause it has a higher risk. If the media guidance applicationdetermines that the person is not a stranger (e.g., by using the camerato identify the user based on comparing the user to a plurality of userswho have user profiles), the media guidance application may rank theaction lower because it is a lower risk.

The media guidance application may determine whether the rank for theuser exceeds the rank for the action. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine that the rank for the user (e.g., 8 out of 10)exceeds the rank for the action (e.g., 5 out of 10).

In response to determining that the rank for the user exceeds the rankfor the action, the media guidance application may determine that theuser is authorized to perform the action. For example, the mediaguidance application may determine that the user is authorized toperform the action (e.g., leave the viewing environment).

In response to determining that the user is authorized to perform theaction, the media guidance application may generate a notification forthe user indicating the detected sound. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a sound notification for the user (e.g., adoorbell sound) to play over playback of the media asset indicating thedetected sound. The media guidance application may play over playback asound notification that is a clip of the detected sound (e.g., thedoorbell ringing, fire alarm, phone call) to alert the user audibly ofthe source of the detected sound.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may play back thesound notification for a set amount of time (e.g., 5 seconds) thatcorresponds to a preset amount of time as determined by an editor, orinput by the user. For example, the media guidance application may playover playback of the media asset the doorbell ringing sound for a setamount of time (e.g., 3 seconds) as determined by an editor.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may play back thesound notification over playback of the media asset until the mediaguidance application detects an action from the user (e.g., the userpauses playback, the user leaves the viewing environment, etc.). Forexample, the media guidance application may play back the soundnotification (e.g., doorbell ringing) over playback of the media assetuntil the media guidance application detects action from the user (e.g.,the media guidance application detects, via a camera, the user leavingthe viewing environment to answer the door).

In some embodiments, when generating a notification for the userindicating the detected sound, the media guidance application maygenerate an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device, wherethe overlay contains a notification for the user about the sound. Forexample, the media guidance application may generate for display anoverlay (e.g., an overlay stating, “The doorbell is ringing!”) to bedisplayed on the media equipment device.

The media guidance application may modify playback of a media asset toallow the user to perform the action associated with the goal. Forexample, the media guidance application may modify playback of the mediaasset (e.g., pause a movie the user is watching) to allow the user toperform the action (e.g., leave the viewing environment) associated withthe goal (e.g., answer the door).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine tomodify playback of the media asset after determining that the user hasnot performed the action associated with the goal after a thresholdamount of time. The media guidance application may retrieve thethreshold amount of time from a database in the profile, where thethreshold amount of time is preset by an editor for each specific goal.The media guidance application may edit the threshold amount of time foreach specific goal based on user input. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine to modify playback of the media asset afterdetermining that the user has not performed the action (e.g., leavingthe viewing environment to answer the door) associated with the goalafter a threshold amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds), retrieved from adatabase in the profile.

In some embodiments, when modifying playback of a media asset to allowthe user to perform the action associated with the goal, the mediaguidance application may retrieve, from the database, a set of playbackmodifications associated with the goal. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve, from the database, a set of playbackmodifications (e.g., pause, play, fast-forward, rewind, mute, turnon/off, etc.) associated with the goal.

The media guidance application may select a playback modification fromthe set of playback modifications based on preferences for the user. Themedia guidance application may retrieve preferences for the user fromthe user profile. The preferences for the user may be preset based onuser input, or may be determined based on user behavior, or acombination of both. For example, the media guidance application maytrack the user's command history to determine the user's favoriteplayback command in response to the user hearing the sound (e.g., adoorbell ringing). The media guidance application may determine thecommands performed after the user hears the sound based on comparing thetimestamps of the commands with the timestamps of the detected sound.For example, the media guidance application may select a playbackmodification (e.g., pause) from the set of playback modifications basedon preferences for the user (e.g., the user always pauses content beforegetting up to answer the door).

The media guidance application may modify playback of the media assetbased on the selected playback modification. For example, the mediaguidance application may modify playback of the media asset based on theselected playback modification (e.g., pause playback of the mediaasset). As another example, the media guidance application may modifyplayback of the media asset based on the selected playback modificationby muting playback of the media asset, stopping playback of the mediaasset, turning off playback of the media asset, or any other similarplayback modification.

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to performthe action, the media guidance application may generate a notificationfor a second user to perform the action. For example, the media guidanceapplication may generate a notification (e.g., send an SMS message tosecond user 1410, send an audio alert to second user 1410's personaldevice, or generate an overlay with instructions for second user 1410 tobe displayed over the media asset) to perform the action (e.g., answerthe door).

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determinewhether the user can hear the sound and therefore be tempted to performthe action in response to the sound.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application may determine thatthe sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment. Forexample, the media guidance application may detect the sound using asensor (e.g., a microphone) contained within the viewing environment.The media guidance application may compare the detected sound's loudnesswith the minimum loudness value (retrieved from the profile) the soundcan have and still be in the audible range.

In response to determining that the user is not authorized to performthe action, the media guidance application may prevent the user frommodifying playback of the media asset. For example, the media guidanceapplication may prevent the user from modifying playback of the mediaguidance application (e.g., not allowing the user to pause playback ofthe media asset).

The media guidance application may modify playback of the media asset toprevent the user from performing the action associated with the goal.For example, the media guidance application may increase the volume ofplayback of the media asset to drown out the sound from the user'saudible range.

In some embodiments, when modifying playback of the media asset, themedia guidance application may determine a volume that dampens the soundthat is within the audible range. For example, the media guidanceapplication may determine a volume that is equivalent to or higher thanthe determined volume of the sound within the audible range.

The media guidance application may adjust a volume corresponding toplayback of the media asset to be the volume that dampens the sound. Forexample, the media guidance application may adjust the playback volumeof the media asset to be a volume that is higher than the detectedvolume of the sound in the audible range.

FIG. 15 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal of asound, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Process1500 begins at 1502, where control circuitry 404 detects sound 106generated by first device 102 external to a media equipment device. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may detect sound 106 (e.g., a doorbellringing) generated by first device 102 (e.g., a doorbell), or speakers414, external to a media equipment device (e.g., a television).

At 1504, control circuitry 404 retrieves, from a lookup table, a knowngoal that is associated with the sound. Control circuitry 404 mayretrieve the known goal from a lookup table stored in storage 408 ormedia guidance data source 518. Control circuitry 404 may also retrievethe known goal from a lookup table from communications network 514. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may retrieve a known goal (e.g., answerthe door) that is associated with sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing).At 1506, control circuitry 404 detects a user in a viewing environment.For example, control circuitry 404 may detect a user in a viewingenvironment using a sensor. At 1508, control circuitry 404 determines anidentity of first user 1408. Control circuitry 404 may determine theidentity of the user using the methods described above. At 1510, controlcircuitry 404 modifies playback to encourage or discourage first user1408 from achieving the known goal based on the identity of first user1408. For example, control circuitry 404 may modify playback (e.g.,pause playback) to encourage first user 1408 to achieve the known goal(e.g., answer the door) based on the identity of first user 1408 (e.g.,the homeowner).

FIG. 16 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether a user is authorized to perform an action that meets a goal ofsound 1406, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. At1602, control circuitry 404 detects sound 1406 generated by a firstdevice external to a media equipment device. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may detect sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing) generatedby first device 1402 (e.g., doorbell) external to a media equipmentdevice.

At 1604, control circuitry 404 stores a database that associates eachgoal in a plurality of goals with a set of actions in a plurality ofactions and a sound in a plurality of sounds. Control circuitry 404stores the database in storage 408 or media guidance data source 518, orretrieves the database via communications network 514.

At 1606, control circuitry 404 compares sound 1406 generated by thefirst device with the database to determine a goal associated with sound1406 and a corresponding set of actions associated with the goal. At1608, control circuitry detects a user in a viewing environment of themedia equipment device. For example, control circuitry 404 may use aninfrared sensor to detect a user in a viewing environment of the mediaequipment device. At 1610, control circuitry 404 determines, from a userprofile of user 1408, whether user 1408 is authorized to perform anaction in the determined set of actions associated with the goal.Control circuitry 404 determines whether the user is authorized toperform an action using similar methods as described above.

At 1612, control circuitry 404 determines whether user 1408 isauthorized to perform an action in the determined set of actionsassociated with the goal. If, at 1612, control circuitry 404 determinesthat “Yes,” user 1408 is authorized to perform an action in thedetermined set of actions associated with the goal, then process 1612proceeds to process 1614. At 1614, control 404 generates a notificationfor the user indicating detected sound 1406. For example, controlcircuitry may generate an overlay on display 412 for the user indicatingthe detected sound. At 1616, control circuitry 404 modifies playback ofa media asset to allow user 1408 to perform the action associated withthe goal. For example, control circuitry 404 may mute playback of mediaasset 1412 to allow the user to perform the action (e.g., leave theviewing environment) associated with the goal (e.g., answer the door).

If, at 1612, control circuitry 404 determines that “No,” user 1408 isnot authorized to perform an action in the determined set of actionsassociated with the goal, then process 1612 proceeds to process 1618. At1618, control circuitry 404 generates a notification for second user1410 to perform the action. For example, control circuitry 404 maygenerate an SMS message to wireless communication device 506 for asecond user (e.g., an adult in the household) to perform the action(e.g., answer the door). At 1620, control circuitry 404 determines thatthe sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may use a microphone to detect whetherthe sound is within an audible range of the viewing environment, asdescribed above. At 1622, control circuitry 404 may prevent user 1408from modifying playback of the media asset. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may not be responsive to user 1408 commands entered by theuser via user input interface 410.

At 1624, control circuitry 404 modifies playback of the media asset toprevent user 1408 from performing the action associated with the goal.At 1626, control circuitry 404 determines a volume that dampens sound1406 that is within the audible range. Control circuitry 404 determinesthe volume that dampens the sound using similar methods as describedabove.

At 1628, control circuitry 404 adjusts a volume corresponding toplayback of the media asset (e.g., audio playback 1414) to be the volumethat dampens user 1408.

FIG. 17 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningthe goal associated with sound 1406, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure. Process 1700 begins at 1702, where control circuitry404 determines a match between sound 1406 and an entry in the databasebased on characteristics of the sound. For example, control circuitry404 may determine a match between sound 1406 (e.g., a doorbell ringing)and an entry in the database based on characteristics of the sound(e.g., tone, loudness, etc.). At 1704, control circuitry 404 retrieves,from the entry, the goal associated with sound 1406. For example,control circuitry 404 may retrieve, from the entry, the goal (e.g.,answer the door) associated with the sound (e.g., doorbell ringing). At1706, control circuitry 404 retrieves, from the entry, the correspondingset of actions associated with the goal. For example, control circuitry404 may retrieve, from the entry, the corresponding set of actions(e.g., pause playback, answer the door, etc.) associated with the goal(e.g., answer the door).

FIG. 18 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for detecting thepresence of the user in the viewing environment, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. Process 1800 begins at 1802, wherecontrol circuitry 404 detects, using a sensor, a presence of user 1408in the viewing environment. Control circuitry 404 may connect to asensor via communications network 514. For example, control circuitry404 may detect, using an infrared sensor, the presence of the user inthe viewing environment.

FIG. 19 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for generating anoverlay containing a notification, in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure. Process 1900 begins at 1902, where control circuitry404 generates an overlay to be displayed on the media equipment device,where the overlay contains a notification for user 1408 about sound1406. Control circuitry 404 may generate an overlay to be displayed ondisplay 412. For example, control circuitry 404 may generate an overlayto be displayed on the media equipment device (e.g., a television),where the overlay contains a notification for the user about the sound(e.g., an overlay with text that reads “The doorbell is ringing.”).

FIG. 20 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for modifyingplayback of the media asset, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. Process 2000 begins at 2002, where control circuitry 404retrieves, from the database, a set of playback modifications associatedwith the goal. Control circuitry 404 may retrieve the set of playbackmodifications from the database stored in storage 408 or media guidancedata source 518, or via communications network 514. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may retrieve, from the database, a set of playbackmodifications (e.g., pause playback, mute playback, etc.) associatedwith the goal (e.g., answer the door).

At 2004, control circuitry 404 selects a playback modification from theset of playback modifications based on preferences for user 1408. Forexample, control circuitry 404 may select a playback modification (e.g.,pause playback) based on preferences for user 1408 (e.g., the userprefers not to miss content when answering the door). At 2006, controlcircuitry 404 modifies playback of the media asset based on the selectedplayback modification. For example, control circuitry 404 may pauseplayback of the media asset based on the selected playback modification(e.g., to pause playback).

FIG. 21 depicts an illustrative flowchart of a process for determiningwhether user 1408 is authorized to perform the action, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. Process 2100 begins at 2102,where control circuitry 404 retrieves, from the user profile, a rank foruser 1408. Control circuitry 404 retrieves the rank for user 1408 fromthe user profile stored in storage 408 or media guidance data source518, or via communications network 514. For example, the media guidanceapplication may retrieve the rank (e.g., 8 out of 10) for user 1408 fromthe user profile in storage 408. At 2104, control circuitry 404retrieves, from a database, a rank for an action. For example, controlcircuitry 404 may retrieve, from a database in storage 408, a rank foran action (e.g., 5 out of 10).

At 2106, control circuitry 404 determines whether the rank of user 1408exceeds the rank for the action. If, at 2106, control circuitry 404determines that “Yes,” the rank of the user exceeds the rank of theaction, process 2106 proceeds to 2108. At 2108, control circuitry 404determines that user 1408 is authorized to perform the action. If, at2106, control circuitry 404 determines that “No,” the rank of user 1408does not exceed the rank of the action, process 2106 proceeds to 2110.At 2110, control circuitry 404 determines that user 1408 is notauthorized to perform the action.

It should be noted that processes 600-1300 and 1400-2100 or any stepthereof could be performed on, or provided by, any of the devices shownin FIGS. 1 and 4-5 . For example, any of processes 600-1300 and1400-2100 may be executed by control circuitry 404 (FIG. 4 ) asinstructed by control circuitry implemented on user equipment 502, 504,506 (FIG. 5 ), and/or a user equipment device for selecting arecommendation. In addition, one or more steps of processes 600-1300 and1400-2100 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps ofany other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of each of FIGS. 6-13and 14-21 may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. Inaddition, the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-13and 14-21 may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to furtherthe purposes of this disclosure. For example, each of these steps may beperformed in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously toreduce lag or increase the speed of the system or method. Furthermore,it should be noted that any of the devices or equipment discussed inrelation to FIGS. 1 and 4-5 could be used to perform one or more of thesteps in FIGS. 6-13 and 14-21 .

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the present invention may be embodied in a computer programproduct that includes a computer-usable and/or readable medium. Forexample, such a computer-usable medium may consist of a read-only memorydevice, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROM device, or a randomaccess memory, such as a hard drive device or a computer diskette,having a computer-readable program code stored thereon. It should alsobe understood that methods, techniques, and processes involved in thepresent disclosure may be executed using processing circuitry. Forinstance, determining a position of a user may be performed, e.g., byprocessing circuitry 406 of FIG. 4 . The processing circuitry, forinstance, may be a general purpose processor, a customized integratedcircuit (e.g., an ASIC), or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)within user equipment 400, media content source 516, or media guidancedata source 518. For example, a profile, as described herein, may bestored in, and retrieved from, storage 408 of FIG. 4 , or media guidancedata source 518 of FIG. 5 . Furthermore, processing circuitry, or acomputer program, may update settings of user equipment 100 storedwithin storage 408 of FIG. 4 or media guidance data source 518 of FIG. 5.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of theprocesses discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/orrearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departingfrom the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure ismeant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow aremeant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes.Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitationsdescribed in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodimentherein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may becombined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done indifferent orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems andmethods described herein may be performed in real time. It should alsobe noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to,or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods.

While some portions of this disclosure may make reference to “relatedart” or “convention,” any such reference is merely for the purpose ofproviding context to the invention(s) of the instant disclosure, anddoes not form any admission as to what constitutes the state of the art.

1-51. (canceled)
 52. A method comprising: receiving, via one or more microphones, a first input from a first user; determining at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input; receiving a second input indicating a requested playback operation from a second user; determining whether the at least one prevented playback operation comprises the requested playback operation; determining whether a first rank associated with the first user is higher than a second rank of the second user; and based on determining the at least one prevented playback operation comprises the requested playback operation and that the first rank associated with the first user is higher than the second rank of the second user, preventing the requested playback operation.
 53. The method of claim 52, wherein the first rank comprises an adult ranking and the second rank comprises a child ranking.
 54. The method of claim 52, wherein the first input from the first user comprises a command to the second user.
 55. The method of claim 52, wherein the second input indicating the requested playback operation from the second user is received by a device comprising the one or more microphones.
 56. The method of claim 52, wherein the second input indicating the requested playback operation from the second user is received by a device connected to but separate from the one or more microphones.
 57. The method of claim 52, wherein the determining at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input comprises determining one or more keywords from speech recognition of the first input from the first user.
 58. The method of claim 52, wherein the determining at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input is further based on tone of the first input from the first user.
 59. The method of claim 52, wherein the preventing the requested playback operation further comprises: determining a duration between receiving the first input from the first user and receiving input indicating the requested playback operation from the second user; and preventing the requested playback operation if the duration is less than a predetermined time limit.
 60. The method of claim 52, wherein the at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input comprises at least one command selected from the following: play, unmute, volume change, rewind, fast-forward, and turn on.
 61. The method of claim 52, wherein the first input from the first user causes execution of at least one command selected from the following: pause, mute, and turn off.
 62. A system comprising: input/output circuitry configured to: receive, via one or more microphones, a first input from a first user; receive a second input indicating a requested playback operation from a second user; one or more processors configured to: determine at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input; determine whether the at least one prevented playback operation comprises the requested playback operation; determine whether a first rank associated with the first user is higher than a second rank of the second user; and based on determining the at least one prevented playback operation comprises the requested playback operation and that the first rank associated with the first user is higher than the second rank of the second user, prevent the requested playback operation.
 63. The system of claim 62, wherein the first rank comprises an adult ranking and the second rank comprises; and a child ranking.
 64. The system of claim 62, wherein the first input from the first user comprises a command to the second user.
 65. The system of claim 62, wherein the one or more processors, when the second input indicating the requested playback operation from the second user is received by a device, are configured to the one or more microphones.
 66. The system of claim 62, wherein the second input indicating the requested playback operation from the second user is received by a device connected to but separate from the one or more microphones.
 67. The system of claim 62, wherein the one or more processors, when the determining at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input, are further configured to determine one or more keywords from speech recognition of the first input from the first user.
 68. The system of claim 62, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the at least one prevented playback operation is further based on tone of the first input from the first user.
 69. The system of claim 62, wherein the one or more processors, when the preventing the requested playback operation, are configured to: determine a duration between receiving the first input from the first user and receiving input indicating the requested playback operation from the second user; and prevent the requested playback operation if the duration is less than a predetermined time limit.
 70. The system of claim 62, wherein the at least one prevented playback operation based on the first input comprises at least one command selected from the following: play, unmute, volume change, rewind, fast-forward, and turn on.
 71. The system of claim 62, wherein the first input from the first user causes execution of at least one command selected from the following: pause, mute, and turn off. 